Rice tops TCU; Texas, A&M still alive

HOUSTON (AP) — Joe Savery used his bat and his arm Sunday night to lead Rice to a 3-1 victory over TCU in the championship of the NCAA Houston regional.

Savery (10-1) gave up one earned run and six hits in pitching into the eighth inning. He struck out three and walked one before Bobby Bramhall took over to pick up his sixth save of the year.

Savery, who was named the MVP of the tournament, went 1-for-4 at the plate, doubled and scored two runs for the Owls.

“(My) fastball was good today,” Savery said. “I was pretty efficient. I got a couple of double play balls. I’m always going to hit. I’ve done that since I was a freshman.

“I knew I didn’t pitch very well last week in the conference tournament. I was just looking for a strong outing.”

Rice (52-12) will face the winner of the College Station regional between Texas A&M and Louisiana-Lafayette in the super regional.

TCU took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Ben Carruthers hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Matt Vern. Savery got Corey Steglich to ground into a double play to end the inning.

“The big inning has kind of hurt me lately,” Savery said. “Getting out of there with just one run across was huge. I wanted to stay out of three or four-run innings. The way the game was going, it looked like it was going to be close.”

Earlier Sunday, TCU advanced by beating Baylor (35-27) 10-5.

Texas 7, Wake Forest 4, 12 innings

ROUND ROCK, Texas (AP) — Bradley Suttle hit a two-run double in the 12th inning to give Texas a 7-4 victory over Wake Forest on Sunday in an elimination game of the NCAA tournament regional in Round Rock.

Wake Forest was down to its last strike in the ninth when Brett Linnenkohl hit a two-run home run off Randy Boone to tie the game with his first career pinch hit.

The Demon Deacons had a runner on second with one out in the 11th but were unable to score when pinch-runner Nathan Frazier was thrown out at third on a grounder to shortstop Chais Fuller.

Jordan Danks and Chance Wheeless singled in the 12th before Suttle drove them in. Russell Moldenhauer, who hit a solo home run in the fourth, followed with a double to score Suttle.

Texas, the regional’s top seed, scored three in the fifth on a Wheeless double and a two-run single by Suttle.

Storms late Sunday forced the suspension of the Longhorns’ game with UC Irvine (42-15-1) with the Anteaters leading 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh. The Anteaters, who defeated the Longhorns 3-1 Saturday, would win the regional with a victory in the suspended game.

Texas A&M 4, La.-Lafayette 1

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Scott Migl shut out Louisiana-Lafayette through seven innings Sunday as Texas A&M forced a final game in the NCAA College Station regional with a 4-1 victory over the Ragin’ Cajuns.

A&M (47-17) took a 2-0 lead in the first on a solo home run by Kyle Colligan and an RBI infield single by Luke Anders. The Aggies added two runs in the seventh on a two-run double by Craig Stinson, who was 0-for-3 to that point.

Travis Starling took over for Migl (7-3) in the eighth with two runners on base. The Cajuns (45-16) got their only run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Scott Hawkins.

Brent Solich (5-2) took the loss.

The two teams meet again Monday night for the chance to advance to a super regional at Rice.

Earlier Sunday, first baseman Blake Stouffer hit for the cycle as the Aggies defeated Ohio State 10-4.

Stouffer, who collected six RBIs, singled in the first, homered in the third, tripled in the fifth and doubled in the seventh. Stouffer also hit for the cycle earlier this season, becoming the first A&M player to do so since 1992.

Gary Campfield (3-0) earned the victory in relief of starter Kirkland Rivers. The duo combined to limit the Buckeyes (38-24) to eight hits, including two by Matt Angle.

Justin Miller and Cory Rupert paced Ohio State with two RBIs each.

J.B. Shuck (4-4) took the loss.

Catcher Josh Stinson added two hits and two RBIs for the Aggies.

Mississippi 21, Sam Houston 13

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — No. 9 batter Alex Kliman had four hits and drove in five runs — nearly half his season total of 12 RBIs — as Mississippi beat Sam Houston State 21-13 on Sunday to win the NCAA Oxford regional.

Kliman was one of nine Ole Miss hitters with at least one RBI and the Rebels set a season high for runs and hits (22). Ole Miss batted around in two innings against the Bearkats (40-24), who finally ran out of juice after two consecutive comeback victories in the regional.

The first nine Rebels (40-23) who batted in the fourth inning scored to put the game away and Ole Miss failed to score in just two innings.

Ole Miss advances to its third straight super regional. The Rebels were ousted by Miami and Texas the last two seasons. They have not been to the College World Series since 1972.

Ole Miss will play the winner of the Tempe regional championship between Arizona State-Nebraska. If Nebraska wins, Ole Miss will host the three-game series.

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